Dihydrolipoic acid is a valuable nutrient substance. Its production and isolation is made difficult due to the ease of oxidation to its disulfide form, namely, lipoic acid, under various standard conditions.
DHLA is typically produced within the body through the redox conversion of lipoic acid or alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) during normal metabolic activity. However, the body generally only produces an amount of DHLA sufficient to assist in metabolic function. However, DHLA has been shown, at least in part, to be an effective antioxidant and chelating agent that can be utilized to scavenge reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as, for example, singlet oxygen, that can contribute to a number of degradative pathological syndromes such as diabetes, glaucoma, atherosclerosis, and other neuropathies. DHLA has also been found, at least in part, to be effective to prevent or repair oxidative damage in cells and to regenerate certain important nutrients in the body such as, for example, vitamins C and E. However, there is no DHLA commercially available; only ALA which is derived from non-living sources which have no DNA and may induce cellular DNA degradation especially in long term use. As a result it is believed that such ALA used in the cell to make minimal amounts of DHLA is not beneficial for long term use. Conversely, DHLA derived from once living sources includes DNA which is known to support cell DNA. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,530,209 to Marshall, stabilized dihydrolipoic acid (DHLA) for use in a medicament or nutritional supplement is derived from a once living source. In particular, the stabilized DHLA compound can be derived from a microbiological culture media including at least one live probiotic organism, R-lipoic acid, and at least one nutraceutical or nutritive agent.
It is evident that there is difficulty in isolating and/or stabilizing large quantities of DHLA. For natural sources, relatively small amounts can be isolated in vivo, as discussed above. However, if a way could be found to prepare and isolate larger quantities of DHLA in situ, this would represent a valuable contribution to the nutraceutical and medical arts.